Tomorrow night at 9p on Syfy the Boogeyman is back and Eddie McClintock has to try to stop the creature that scared us all when we were little kids.
So when he was a little kid, was he afraid of the Boogeyman? He told me on a conference call what scared him when he was younger, “Well, you know, I grew up on, you know, I Was a Teenage Werewolf and Wolfman and, you know, (Chainey) and Lugosi and, you know, all the Universal horror films. So when I asked my parents if I could go see the original Friday the 13th on an Easter Sunday, I think I was in seventh grade and I went to a matinee – I don’t know how I was ever allowed into the film because I was just a little kid and I went with my best buddy. And I remember walking home we had to walk through – because I’m from Ohio so we had to walk through a field and I just thought what could be underneath – because there was like a chest high grass. And I just started thinking what is under – what if something jumps out at me. And that kind of carried over. I had bunk beds in my room and my room was at the top of the stairs. And I ended up sleeping in my parents’ room for three weeks. That movie scared me so badly my dad went to see it on his own so that he could see what it was that scared me. That I would say, the original Friday the 13th, Jason or his mother, she scared me. Because then I was like what, the guy’s mom, it’s not a monster, it’s a person and she’s talking to the moon? That scared me. So I guess that was my Boogeyman.”
He also talked about movies that he grew up with as a kid, “On Friday nights when I was growing up in Cleveland there was a show called Big Chuck and (Hoolihan) and they would show creature features on Friday nights. And it’s some of the best memories that I have of growing up is staying up late with my dad and, you know, watching these movies. So when I had an opportunity to do that on the Syfy Network I really just jumped at it. I just – I wanted to be able to again maybe possibly give some little kid who loves scary movies a chance to have a good time with his family, his brothers or his dad or whoever.” Even though as a kid he grew up seeing horror movies on Fridays, he explained how Boogeyman differs from the other Syfy movies that air on Saturday night, “So, you know, I love – even though I love movies about half men, half mosquitoes or off the cuff just happen to also be part ferret, I wanted to – if I was going to do one of these movies I wanted it to be more of a straight up like horror than, you know, and I just thought Boogeyman, you know, this is more of a straight up and down horror film like what I’m used to growing up with before they started, you know, animals. And so for me it’s more of a downstream horror film than normally what you’ll let’s say have been given on the network previous to this. You know, also I wanted to make sure that people knew we weren’t taking ourselves too seriously which seems to be a running through line for most jobs I do.” There was one person who meant serious business in this movie and that is the Boogeyman who’s the scariest one I have ever seen in any movie that has portrayed him.
Now it wouldn’t be an Eddie McClintock feature, if it didn’t have a touch of his sense of humor. He explained how his comedic brilliance was worked into to the terrifying movie, “You know, when I arrived in Bulgaria Jeffery Lando our director said to me, he goes, well Syfy basically said, you know, if you want to change things and make things funnier or do whatever you want to do you’ve got permission, you know, as long as we see eye to eye. And fortunately he and I got along great and so there were chances for me to kind of in my own not as funny, not as talented way to be able to give a shout out to Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi. And hopefully people will see that there are actual scares and bumps to this and then you might even get a few chuckles, you know. The boys who play my sons are good together and Amy Bailey who plays my partner is great. I think we did an honorable job.” When you watch this movie you will totally agree that they did do a very honorable job.
So how much of his character in the Boogeyman differ from the character we see him play every Monday at 9p on Syfy in Warehouse 13, he said “Well, you know, Officer Samuels doesn’t have like a sixth sense, a vibe like Pete does. He’s more serious than Pete. He’s a single father, his wife was killed in an automobile accident, we kind of find that out. And, you know, he’s struggling to deal with that and struggling to deal with being a single dad of two ornery sons.”
Now I couldn’t let him get off the conference call without finding out what is coming up on Warehouse 13, so here’s his preview “Pete makes some fart jokes, he acts like a fool, he saves the world. Artie grumbles, Claudia snarks, and Jo Ann (Myka) OCDs.” In his defense the show and the movie’s publicist (yes they are one in the same) was on the call too and wouldn’t let him spill any beans.
So here is what I will spoil for you about Boogeyman, make sure all the lights in your house are working because after you watch the Boogeyman on Syfy tomorrow at 9p you will not want any room to be dark for at least a few days, I mean nights!
